Shadow of a Hero
by Rabid Biscuit
Summary: SEGA Archie mix. Shadow, the loner, is pretty indifferent to the world. Even when Knothole City is decimated, he stays neutral. Even when Eggman vanishes, he keeps to himself. But when he gets mixed up with the Dark Legion and Lien Da, things may change.
1. A Rainy Day

Shadow of a Hero

A story from the comic universe.

Written by the Rabid Biscuit

**Forward-**

Let's get some things straight right off the bat, okay? This story is a fusion of the SEGA video games and the Archie comic series. If that doesn't appeal to you, I'm sorry. Most people, I think, will like this, though. I hope I'm not wrong.

So as far as continuity goes, I feel I should sand down the rough edges. This story takes place on Mobius. Yes, Archie's Mobius. It takes place after the Dark Legion schism which was mentioned in (I believe) issue 166. Obviously there's swearing, there are differences to the society the characters live in, and there are some things that obviously do not and most likely will never happen (one being what happens to Eggman in this very chapter).

In fact, you could think of this story as an alternate but similar reality. Most characters will remain the same, but there are differences in title, rank, etc. I hope that doesn't put people off, and I hope you can honestly appreciate this story, whichever direction it may take.

So without further ado, I present to you, my reader...

**Chapter One**

"A Rainy Day"

Sonic ran as fast as he could amongst the forests of the jungle in the Mystic Ruins. A large rifle was clutched in his right hand, and a grenade in his left. It was raining hard, and at the speed he was going, every drop – hell, every condensation nuclei – felt like a bullet on his flesh. The mud was being torn up beneath his feet as he ran, and if he slipped, it would be over.

A red-hot laser seared his right shoulder, and he screamed. Trying not to trip, he bit his teeth and kept running. More lasers followed, and he tried his hardest to evade each shot.

What was he running from? At this point, he wasn't sure. It could be organic, mechanical, hell, it could be a mix. The point was, he didn't know. He just knew that, considering what he had just done, they would not be happy.

The trees were getting increasingly closer together, and Sonic grinned at the opportunity to dash in between them, and give his pursuers the slip. With a burst of speed, he dashed amongst the trees, and almost like a pinball machine, shot back and forth, evading lasers at Mach II. Eventually he found a large tree trunk and performed a light speed dash up to its canopy. With a jump and a burst of acceleration, he shot along the tree tops, as lasers aimlessly fired after him.

"Suckers," he yelled. Perhaps too soon, as he tripped on a branch, fell fifty feet, and splashed into a puddle of mud. Not a second later, lasers were scorching his surroundings.

With all the energy he had, the blue hedgehog jumped up and accelerated again, shooting straight through the jungle to its edge. Now he was safe. Open ground. He could take on whatever was chasing him.

* * *

Shadow the Hedgehog marched along, staring at his feet. The rain fell on him lightly. He felt pretty good for once. So what was he out in the jungle for on a rainy, cold day? Shadow had been traveling the globe for a month now, and he had found himself in the jungle at a perhaps inopportune time. Mud clogged his hoverblades, and unfortunately, he couldn't run very well. Being trained to skate all your life kind of undid any basic motor functions that don't have to do with skating.

A laser blast caught his attention, and the dark hedgehog's gaze shot up and to the right. A blue blur was dashing amongst the trees, chased by a huge army of robots toting what looked like fuel-rod cannons.

"Sonic?"

Shadow watched the blur blast past with a grim look. Something inside him said 'help', but then he remembered the hedgehog's ways. The ways that only he could see. Egotistical, arrogant, lustful, and rather brazen. He may save the world, but he's no humble hero. Shadow's eyes lowered back to the ground, and then he heard Sonic scream as a laser burn some part of his sleek body.

"God damnit, I guess I'd better help that faker," Shadow muttered. He accelerated as best he could on his feet, which wasn't really very good at all. After a moment or two of this hopeless running, he sighed and pulled out the green Chaos Emerald. A wormhole opened up and he vanished.

* * *

Sonic stood, battle ready, and even, much to his own anger, a bit scared as a wall of soldiers approached the edge of the trees. Sonic checked the charge in his rifle. It was at 99. There was no reason to check, as he had only used it once all day. Only needed to use it once. He was that good.

In a split second, the first soldiers burst through the trees. Sonic vanished in a blast of speed and systematically tackled each soldier robot, crushing their heads. But there were far too many. He needed a better plan.

The hedgehog performed several backflips and landed on one foot and one knee. He raised his rifle to shoulder-height and took aim at one of the robot's cores. Sonic knew Eggman enough to know exactly how these soldiers were powered. A nuclear core pumped energy through the circuitry of the units. Sonic flipped the laser scope to 10x and pulled back on the trigger. In less than one one thousandth of a second, the robot detonated, and the resulting explosion from the core made a large crater in the edge of the jungle.

"Boom," he muttered, aiming at another unit. His miracle rifle fired again, and yet another detonation razed the woods like fire.

The rifle was the newest invention of his good friend Miles Prower. It was a Mag-Rail. In more understandable terms, it was a magnetic acceleration rifle. This rifle used long, depleted uranium slugs with a tungsten core and titanium shell. The slugs were accelerated down a long magnetized rail. They came out the barrel at about ten times the speed of a standard chemically-propelled assault rifle. They could drill through three feet of concrete. Much more easily through a human skull.

Sonic turned his rifle around, searching for another good target, and realized that a large, imposing robot stood directly in front of him. Jumping back, he stumbled, and dropped the Mag-Rail. The robot stomped on it with all his mechanical, gear-driven might. Sonic's one trump card was now officially out of the game.

The robot lifted his laser gun up, and Sonic knew that he would pull the trigger before the blue hedgehog could move. Suddenly, a large, green explosion rocked the area, and the robot's remains were strewn across the area.

Sonic's eyes darted about for the source of the attack, and he found a black figure approaching, blasting various robots with a flaming, green fist.

"Shadow?" Sonic asked no one in particular. The black hedgehog was systematically destroying the army. Hunks of metal were flying every which way. Sonic jumped up and dashed toward the army, creating a sonic boom that took out a few, but Shadow made this look like it was Easy-mode on Halo.

After a while of this, Sonic dashed over to Shadow. "What the hell do you think you're doing, you god damn fake? I was doing fine on my own!"

"I could have thought otherwise, considering that one robot was about to melt your brain to your skull. You know, you could appreciate the fact that I saved your life, but I didn't really expect that from a snide, arrogant prick like you," Shadow said, grinning. Sonic was clearly not as amused. The blue hedgehog dashed around the area, causing various sonic booms that sent the robots up in a tornado. Shadow kept on smiling for a while, and then blasted another pack with a beam of green energy.

Sonic darted back and the two kept on blasting away.

"So, what are they after you for this time, Sonic? Did you try to steal another one of Eggman's airships? Maybe you attempted to take one of his experimental Chaos Emeralds. Or maybe you just mooned him through the window again?" Shadow asked.

"None of the above, I'm afraid. No, they're on me today because I did something to really piss them off." Sonic replied, sending another boom to the front of the pack.

"What?"

"I assassinated Eggman." Sonic stated like it was old news. Shadow's jaw hit the ground.

"No way. No god damn way."

"It was easy. I mean, I bet even you could have done it, you big fake-" A burning laser cut through Sonic's chest, and the blue hedgehog fell. Shadow looked on for a moment, and in a fit of rage, he caused an explosion that took out the whole part of the jungle. Trees vaporized. Grass was set aflame. Metal was turned to molten slag. The water in the streams nearby boiled.

Shadow stepped back and panted. A gaping wound in Sonic's gut was not good news. Picking up the 'hero', Shadow used his all-too-familiar warp-based technique to teleport off to safety.


	2. A Cold Welcome Home

**Chapter Two**

"A Cold Welcome Home"

Shadow landed on the caked, wet, muddy ground in a flash of beautiful green light. He kneeled down automatically and was rewarded with a thick glob of mud on each knee.

He clutched the blue hero to his chest and got up. He was right where he had meant to come; the massive steel battlements surrounding Knothole City were above him, and the tall steel gate was in front of him.

The two armed guards at the gate eyed him as he walked forward, clutching the wounded hero.

One realized that Sonic was bleeding profusely and decided it was time to talk.

"You are Shadow the Hedgehog, are you not?"

Shadow nodded.

"What happened?" the big guard inquired, pointing a gloved finger to Sonic's chest wound.

"He was shot, what the hell do you think, you massive oaf?!?" Shadow roared. The guard growled, and was about to fight, but a mechanical groan echoed from behind him and the gate rose up.

Shadow marched through it after growling at the antagonistic brute of a guard and his comrade, who had said nothing.

The towering skyscrapers of Knothole's business district loomed immediately overhead. Beyond them, carved into the massive central tree, the Castle of Acorn dominated the city, casting its shadow out over the residential district.

Knothole officials had recently voted to heighten the city's defense, which resulted in the battlements which now surrounded it, as well as a larger army. The deciding factor had been Eggman's last bombing campaign which left nearly twenty-thousand civilians dead.

Station Square had refused to offer aid.

A member of the Acorn Defense Force ran up to Shadow.

"I'll get the commander back to the castle for medical treatment immediately, Mr. Shadow!" He then practically ripped Sonic from Shadow's arms and ran headlong towards the center of the city.

"Crackhead..." muttered the black hedgehog.

That was another thing that had resulted from the heightened defense – Sonic was now the A.D.F.'s commander. He did nothing, most of the time. The last big thing he had been involved in was the liberation of Angel Island from the clutches of Dr. Eggman, but from what Shadow had gathered, the Dark Legion were near victory anyway.

The dark hedgehog shook his feet as hard as he could to dislodge the clogging mud. It came free in showers of brown gunk.

Satisfied, Shadow began his usual skating motions and the air jets of his hoverblades kicked on automatically. He twirled in a circle to ensure his shoes' functionality and bolted down the street to the Castle.

Individuals in business suits were walking down the sidewalks on either side of the black hedgehog. He didn't have to spend much time avoiding cars, of course. Knothole's citizens weren't known for driving much.

It was still raining. The sun was trying to peak out from behind the dark gray ceiling of cloud, but it looked like it was losing.

A cold breeze was blowing out of the north, and Shadow found himself a little chilly. He was beginning to see the massive golden trunk of the Castle. Steel scaffolding covered a portion of it that had been blown out by Eggman's last bombing. It was a tree, so obviously, there was little that could be done except for build a new steel section. Shadow guessed it would be a new entrance, from the grandiose scale it was being designed on.

Evidence of the bombing could be seen all around the city, especially in the business district. Chunks of the skyscrapers were blown out, and some had been burnt to the ground. The city was currently experiencing a period of great economic growth, though, so it was little worry to the government. They didn't even seem to care that twenty thousand people had been killed.

Shadow passed under a large plasma screen that was displaying propaganda videos and accompanied by the droning voice of the Chief Propaganda Minister.

"Citizens of Knothole, remain vigilant. The bombing campaigns of Ivo Robotnik will end soon. Our hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, will be victorious. Let our flag fly free and true."

"I swear this city's become totalitarian," Shadow muttered as he passed through the current entrance to the Castle. The massive marble staircase running up into the trunk towered over him like a mountain. Armed guards flanked its bottom.

A receptionist's desk was located next to the glass entryway. A stodgy man with slicked-back quills and small, wire-rimmed glasses eyed Shadow as he entered.

"Welcome to the Castle of Acorn, can I help you...?"

He asked if he could help as if that was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Um... An A.D.F. soldier brought Sonic here, and..." Shadow began.

"So you just assume you're welcome here, hmm? You need express invitation by someone of authority to see the commander," the nasty receptionist spat.

"Look man, I just want to know if Sonic's okay, all right?" Shadow asked, calmly.

A beep suddenly rang out. The receptionist looked down at a speaker and hit the little red button.

"Front desk."

"Hadley, if Shadow the Hedgehog comes by, send him up to the throne room immediately, understood?" ordered a female voice.

"Of course, your highness. He's here right now."

"Well send him up!"

'Hadley' turned off the intercom and pointed to the marble stairs. "All the way to the top. The princess is waiting."

Shadow saluted Hadley sarcastically and ambled to the stairs.

The marble flight of stairs took forever to climb, and by the time Shadow reached the top, he, for once, was honestly tired.

He looked up to look around. Several halls branched off of this room, but it was clearly the throne room. The wooden trunk walls of the tree gave the room a warm glow. A sort of root hanging down from farther up the trunk was suspended over the stairs, and was covered in monitors.

Two guards stood at the top of the stairs, and they looked off blankly into space. Two more guards flanked the throne. Between them sat a brown squirrel clad in an outfit that couldn't easily be described but was essentially a cross between monarch robes and a dress. She had a worried look on her face.

"Shadow!" she burst as soon as she saw him. "What happened?!? How did Sonic get shot?"

The black hedgehog sighed. "Calm down, princess. Is Sonic okay?"

Princess Sally Acorn nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, he's fine. But what happened?"

"I ran into him in the jungle. He said he had killed Eggman. We ended up fighting a squad of robots...um...Sonic got blasted by a laser..."

"Oh, thank the gods he was successful..." Sally muttered.

"You're saying he was on a mission to kill Eggman?" Shadow asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes! He was sent to kill Eggman so the bombings would stop!"

"No way he could succeed. No way," Shadow argued. Sally growled.

"What, you don't believe Sonic could do it?"

The black hedgehog scoffed. "No, I just doubt it'd be that easy."

Sally was about to make a rebuttal but was interrupted by a yellow duck entering the room. He walked up to Sally, bent down, and whispered something in her ear.

"Great. Is he awake?"

The duck shook his head. "He'll probably be out for a few days, your highness..."

"Very well. Thank you, Dr. Quack," Sally said.

The duck turned and left.

"Well, my work is done. I'm out of here."

Shadow turned to the stairs and prepared to leave.

"Wait, Shadow..." Sally started. "Why'd you save Sonic out there, anyway?"

The black hedgehog shrugged and started down the stairs.

Sally watched him go and sighed.

* * *

The Dark Legion was in turmoil. Ever since the events on Angel Island that had torn its population apart, the Legion had been split in two.

The Flame Legion now consisted of those troops who wielded flame swords, as well as Lien-Da's elite loyalists. Obviously, Lien-Da, the Kommissar, was its Grand Master.

The Frost Legion consisted of those troops who utilized liquid nitrogen gloves. A mysterious echidna had taken command over it, and he bared great resemblance to the once-thought-dead Kragok, Lien-Da's twin brother. Whether he was or not remained unknown to all.

Lien-Da's Flame Legion was currently headquartered in the Hidden Palace, an ancient echidna ruin deep within the island. They were currently in the process of building up more troops to take back the Frost Legion, but it was all up in the air.

Lien-Da sat in her rotating 'supervillain' chair twirling one of her curly locks around her finger. She was completely and utterly bored.

The monitors her Legion had installed were flashing various images, and her loyal troops were running tests. A radar was beeping. A large map of the world had various points flashing on it.

A female echidna with dual mechanical eyes approached her. "Kommissar! We're picking up odd signals from Megaopolis!"

Lien-Da snapped out of her daydream and sat up straighter. "Wait, what?"

The female echidna raised a wireless stylus at the map. She drew a box around the continent Megaopolis was located on and brought a large picture up.

Blips were moving out from the city over the sea.

"What am I seeing, anyway?" Lien-Da asked. Her female advisor shook her head.

"Not sure yet, Kommissar, but it's probably another bombing wave by Eggman on Knothole."

The Kommissar laughed. "Then why should I waste my time caring?"

"Well, sir... The ships are sending out messages in a code we can't decipher. It's interesting, for sure."

"Okay. So Eggman's doing something new. Big deal, he's not our problem anymore," Lien-Da said, hopping out of her chair. She stared up at the map.

"But sir... It's like every ship in his armada is being sent out."

Lien-Da wheeled around. "Big deal. It's not our problem, okay?" She grabbed the stylus out of her lieutenant's hand. She zoomed out and then in on Angel Island. She then aimed at a city south of the Hidden Palace. "This is our problem."

"Sir, can we at least continue to watch Eggman's activity?"

Lien-Da growled. "Fine. But don't bother me unless it's really definitely important, got it?"

Still, she couldn't help but stare up at the map and wonder what was going on.


	3. A Decisive Invasion

**Chapter 3**

"An Decisive Invasion"

Shadow's eyes drifted up to the sky as he sat on a branch jutting out from the massive trunk of the Castle. A thin band of blue could be seen, and sun was shining down on the ground way beyond the city limits. The rain had stopped, but there were puddles all throughout the city.

Shadow still didn't believe that Eggman was dead. It seemed impossible – Sonic must have goofed. No one could pull it off; the fat doctor was just too damn well guarded.

"Besides...there's still more to my story, I'm sure of it... Eggman knows more about me..."

The doctor had always said he knew more about Shadow's enigmatic past, but he never elaborated. Shadow figured that was how Eggman kept the black hedgehog coming back for more. And it was working.

Shadow looked back to the skyline – the blue strip was widening.

"Thank the gods...I can't take much more of this rain."

Something caught Shadow's eye – a dark spot on the horizon. It seemed to be moving, but it must have been far off, given how slow it moved...and big. Then, more dark spots became visible.

Then, an air raid siren kicked on.

"Oh shit, a bombing run. I knew Eggman wasn't dead..." Shadow mumbled.

He then dropped off of the branch and vanished in thin air.

* * *

Miles "Tails" Prower's eyes bolted to the window of his workshop when he first heard the air raid siren. He dropped his screwdriver and almost dropped the data pad computer he was working on, but realized not to just in time.

"Not good not good not good..." the orange fox rambled as he jumped off of his stool and ran around in a circle for a second.

He was clad in dirty overalls and mechanic gloves today; he had been working on a few of his biplanes not an hour before, after he made sure Sonic would live. Goggles covered his eyes.

He ripped his gloves off and tossed them onto his workbench. He didn't bother to pull his goggles off.

Tails ran out the door of his workshop and onto the tarmac of the King Maximillian Memorial Air Force Base. Pilots were running to their F16 and FA/18 fighters, pulling masks over their furry heads.

Tails looked to the sky for guidance. A giant armada of Eggman cruisers were flying towards the city at an almost insulting lethargic pace. Several were clearly flagships, having the long swordfish nose common to Eggman's fleet heads.

A voice came out over the air siren now – it was almost too loud.

"Citizens of Knothole! An air raid is about to begin! Please get to your current sector's designated bomb shelter and stay put until further notice! Our military will be fighting back, and we will defend our city. Good luck."

Tails watched the first of the fighters take off and fly straight towards the oncoming armada.

"This will not end well..."

This current armada was the biggest Tails had ever seen attack their city, and they seemed so confident, it was hard not to be scared.

The twin-tailed fox turned back to his workshop; his own personal shelter was in the basement.

* * *

Shadow reappeared at the very top of the Castle tree to get a better look at what was going on. Fighter jets were taking off from the base behind the castle, and were flying headlong at the armada. Seemed kind of foolish.

Then the first bomb dropped. It exploded on the very outskirts of the city, but it was loud and impressive, even from the top of a massive tree.

Judging from the bomb, it most likely wouldn't destroy an entire building, but Shadow guessed Eggman's tactic was more shock and awe than utter destruction.

Then more bombs started raining down. They came in an almost repetitive order, like the bass beats in a drum solo. They were mostly hitting the outskirts still, and Shadow felt pretty safe where he was.

The fighter jets began fighting back. First came small arms fire, and then a few missiles; not much became of it. The blasts impacted on the hulls of the flagships, and it would probably take a lot more to cause any real damage.

Then Shadow saw what seemed like enemy fighters flying out of the flagships. They were odd, hook-shaped jets without any visible weapons or jets. Nevertheless, missiles began flying at the Knothole fighter jets, and the first few casualties on the Kingdom side were made.

The bombs started falling on the business district, and Shadow could see large chunks of skyscraper crashing down to the streets. A few buildings had their windows shattered by the shockwaves.

And almost as soon as the battle began, the Knothole fighters were wiped out. Shadow wasn't surprised, because this was more an extermination than a battle. As the bombs came progressively closer, Shadow felt the excitement build in him.

And then the bombs stopped. The armada halted and hovered right above the city.

"What's Eggman up to?" asked Shadow.

Then more enemy aircraft began pouring out of the sides of the ships, but they were a different shape; a different kind, it seemed. They were blockier, with short, stubby wings and little thrusters. They lowered down.

"Dropships..."

As the first touched down, the sides of the lumpy little ship opened with a whoosh of outflowing pressure. Then, methodically, robotic soldiers similar to those encountered in the forest that very morning began marching out.

Each carried a rifle. Shadow could just barely hear their perfectly orchestrated stomping, every troop in unison.

A few of the ships landed in front of the Castle. The robots poured out and began moving towards the massive tree's entrance.

Then, ADF soldiers ran out to face them. They got down behind the blocks that decorated the Castle's sweeping entrance walkway. Gunfire started up from the Knothole side; real bullets. The robots were surprised by the metal slugs, and had clearly been expecting laser fire.

More than a few robots were down within the first five seconds. The remaining ones wised up, took cover and started firing their bright laser guns at the ADF troops.

Soon, battles were taking place all over the city. Shadow was actually surprised by the number of ADF troops, and that they were appearing to be successful.

* * *

Tails opened the door of his workshop tentatively, expecting another bomb to drop. Nothing.

He grabbed a service pistol and inched out the door, holding it next to his face, pointed up at the sky.

He could hear machine gun fire now, and the occasional laser blast. Infantry had landed.

"This is a full-scale attack..." Tails stated, peeping around the corner of his little workshop. ADF troops were kneeling behind collapsed pillars and firing at sinister enemy robots, which in turn were shooting laser bolts back.

Tails gulped and pulled back behind the safety of his workshop. "I gotta get to the Castle..."

He ducked down and ran behind the cover of barrels lined out behind his house. When he reached the end, he peeped around the corner, clutching his pistol.

To his relief, there were no enemies to be seen. He dashed out from behind his most likely explosive cover to the entrance of the base.

An explosion caused him to lunge the last ten feet to the gate. He at first thought it was the bombs starting up again, but realized it was a grenade tossed by the ADF...a grenade he had helped design.

The gate was wide open, and he crept out with his tails essentially between his legs. He eyed the street carefully; more troops were dug in in the entrance to a bank, exchanging fire.

Tails could see a service entrance to the Castle just ahead of him; the base was located in the big tree's shadow. The entrance was basically a steel blast door leading to a ladder which ran up to maintenance. Tails used it often; he was a chief techie after all.

He tested the door knob and found it unlocked, thankfully. He pulled the door open, dashed into the darkness beyond and slammed it shut.

The dim red glow of the maintenance lights was his only guide down the cold, damp corridor leading to the ladder. Electrical wiring on the concrete wall lead the way.

Tails moved at a brisk pace down the corridor and put his pistol's safety on and pocketed it as he reached the ladder. He jumped onto the cold, steel thing and climbed as fast as he could.

He popped out of a hole in the ground in the back of the electrical room. It was empty, and he could hear the loud buzzing hum of the backup generator running in the next room. He walked to the exit and pushed it open.

The golden light of the Castle's interior welcomed him as he walked out onto a level behind the massive marble staircase. Several ADF troops were scurrying about on this level, and one was mounting a chain gun on the railing.

More troops were lined up on the bottom level with RPGs and grenade launchers. Rifle fire was still bursting outside.

Tails ran past the troops on this level and got to the elevator on the far side. He hit the throne room button and waited for what seemed an eternity as the cable-clinging box climbed up to the heavens. He found himself tapping his foot expectantly.

"_I'm getting more like Sonic every day..."_ he thought.

The door finally opened with a ding and Tails ran out. More soldiers were on this level, aiming sniper rifles down at the entrance. The princess wasn't here.

Tails looked down over the railing to get a good look at the battle below. Eggman's robots were finally getting in, but were being held back by the ADF, for the most part. The twin-tailed fox couldn't see any Knothole casualties.

"Mr. Prower!"

Tails turned to see a tall raccoon in a crisp blue suit running in from the balcony to the right of the throne room. He was panting hard when he reached Tails.

"We're evacuating the princess! She held off for you. Let's go!"

Tails' eyes went from the Propaganda Minister back down to the entrance and back again for a few moments. Eggman's robotic soldiers were clearly winning now; they had almost wiped out the ADF troops, and the snipers here had just started firing.

With a resigned nod, Tails followed the minister out to the balcony.

A black helicopter was hovering just above the railing of the balcony, and several people were on board, including the princess and Sonic, who was still asleep. The Propaganda Minister hopped on board.

Tails gave one last look down on the city before climbing onto the chopper.

* * *

Shadow's attention was grabbed as a black helicopter rose up beside him. He looked over and could clearly see Miles Prower's face staring down at him before it took off to the south.

The black hedgehog looked back down on the city and wasn't surprised to see more Eggman troops landing in their dropships. Rifle fire had died down now, and it was clear that the ADF had been defeated.

"Hmph. Not surprised..." he muttered.

His eyes drifted up to the main flagship of the Eggman armada. "I wonder if Eggman himself is on that boat..."

With that rhetorical question came a jolt of curiosity, and Shadow resolved to have a look. He leapt off of the top of the tree and once more vanished into the air.


	4. Utter Devastation

Chapter 4

"Utter Devestation"

Shadow rematerialized in the air above the very tip of the swordfish-like "nose" of the lead flagship. He dropped down to a crouch, and then opened his eyes.

The mounted cannons lining the nose were all pointed straight ahead and apparently locked; in fact, there was no real movement on the ship to speak of, barring a flapping blue flag with a white stylized Eggman-face on it. There weren't even any robots to be seen.

"What's up with this...Hmm..." Shadow muttered, as he got up to his feet and walked casually down the long nose.

One of the hooked fighters flew over his head with a humming roar and Shadow turned to watch it fly down towards the Castle below. A wave of four followed it.

Then, an explosion caught his attention. He wasn't sure where it came from, but it seemed like a major missile; not one of the shock and awe bombs Eggman loved to drop.

A second massive blast exploded somewhere below this very ship. Then a third, and a fourth.

Shadow moved to the edge of the nose to look down. Four columns of thick black smoke were billowing up from the bombed-out husks of skyscrapers. Several Egg-Fighters flew beneath the nose and a flash burst as they dropped rockets. The rockets in turn flew down towards the Castle, and after a volley of little red bursts, Shadow saw what was obviously fire breaking out on the tree.

He looked back down and spied a black shape falling down from the bottom of the flagship's hull. It exploded in the air over a courthouse. Then another dropped and air-burst over the Royal Acorn Bank. Shadow could see the ancient mortar of the building being blown out to all sides.

More bombs followed, each hitting some predetermined target. Shadow watched until he'd seen enough mindless destruction, and got up to move down the nose.

He had almost reached the end of the nose when he heard the biggest boom yet. It even made him jump a bit.

"What the hell was that?!?"

The black hedgehog skated to the edge of the nose and looked back. A massive pillar of smoke was just appearing from the top of the Castle, but it wasn't from the fire which had now engulfed the foliage. A missile had exploded on the tree, and a gaping, blackened hole had been blown out. The wood was on fire in several places as well.

"Damn...the Doctor is serious..." whispered Shadow with a hint of disbelief. He watched as another missile was launched, which air-burst somewhere in the thick smoke, and more of the tree was blown to bits. Shadow could see the stone which had formed the upper portions of the Castle being thrown down to the streets below.

Then, much to his surprise, the flagship began moving. Oddly, though, it was retreating. A definite backwards thrust caused Shadow to stumble a bit.

"What's this...?"

The bombing continued even as the ship retreated, but the Egg-Fighters were flying back to the ships in droves. They were almost like clockwork; Shadow could count off each craft returning by simply counting the seconds.

The bombing finally ceased when the ship passed over the battlements surrounding the (former) city. Shadow looked around to get a guess at what would happen next, but he couldn't tell much. He did see the other armada ships some ways off from this one. They had completely turned around, unlike this, and were firing up their thrusters.

The flagship Shadow stood on continued to move backwards as the others went full throttle and shot off over the jungle.

"What's the Doctor doing?" the hedgehog asked.

The flagship finally stopped its backward crawl when it was well away from the city. Shadow looked down and realized they were hovering over a murky-looking lake in the middle of the jungle.

A mechanical clinking, rumbling, and humming caught his attention, and he turned to eye the large jet engines on the side of the ship. They were starting up, and the turbofans spun with increasing speed.

Then another rumbling occurred deep beneath him. It lasted for about ten seconds, and then ceased. A moment of silence from all but the turbofan engines ensued, and then the distinct sound of a rocket booster cut through the tension like a warm knife through cold butter.

Shadow watched as a long, white missile emblazoned with a red Eggman logo fired out from under the nose. It quickly picked up speed, and flew headlong at the ruins of Knothole. Not even twenty seconds later, Shadow was knocked off of his feet.

A mushroom cloud instantly exploded upwards from the city center, and several shockwaves blasted out in all directions. Shadow struggled to get up, and could feel the hot wind blowing out at him.

The red inferno of a nuclear bomb raged for ten seconds, followed by the ever growing mushroom cloud looming over the decimated city, casting an eclipsing shadow out to the very borders of Knothole.

"Holy hell...that was a damned nuke," Shadow said, shaking a bit. "The Doctor fired a damn NUKE."

Then, without any waiting, the ship began to turn. Shadow snapped out of his shock and disbelief.

He turned to face a massive door on the front of the bridge. Without any hesitation, he ran to it.

* * *

Tails watched the mushroom cloud grow from the flattened waste that had not an hour before been his home with an expression of disbelief, sadness, and rage all mixed together.

Surprisingly, the helicopter hadn't been followed. It was possible that the enemy fighters had simply not seen the departing military craft, but that scenario was unlikely. No, Eggman had let them go.

So, that raised another point in Tails' tumultuous mind – Eggman wasn't dead. No way his armada would fly out without him. Without the human, the machine cannot function.

Another thing Tails was now thinking about: what a temper. Who'd've thought that somebody trying to kill you would flip you out enough to nuke their city?

Tails looked around the chopper's cabin. Princess Sally was hunched over, staring at the metal floor, with closed eyes and a trembling hand holding up her head. A yellow rabbit with a mechanical left arm and legs was patting her on the back.

A purple walrus with a backwards hat was sitting next to Tails with roughly the same look that the orange fox had. Next to him, a yellow mongoose with flowing purple hair was crying. Below her, sprawled out on the floor with white bandages wrapped all the way around his torso was Sonic. Poor fellow had no idea what had just happened.

A pink hedgehog in her trademark red dress was sitting on the floor next to Sonic's head. She didn't have the same sort of look on her face as the others. Hers was a look of exhaustion.

A brown coyote with slick golden locks was sitting on the floor to the right of Sally, toying with his sword. From the look on his face, Tails guessed he had snapped.

The helicopter was apparently bound for Station Square, whether the humans there liked it or not.

Tails sighed and sat back in his chair and felt the big walrus paw of Rotor smack his shoulder a few times.

* * *

Shadow marched onto the bridge of the flagship. His hoverblades made loud metal clangs with every step he took.

He stared up at the command deck, expecting to see Eggman standing there, triumphantly laughing, or something. But no one was there, except for a few maintenance robots.

A computer's beeping was droning on; it sounded a bit like Morse code.

"What the hell..."

Shadow leapt up onto the command deck. The computers were running through lines of code onscreen. The beeping was coming from the central computer.

Shadow eyed a big holographic monitor hanging above the control panel. Red letters were spread across the green surface: "CODE 86 IN PROGRESS..." The ellipsis following the letters continually cycled like a cheap casino's neon sign.

Shadow looked up at a big holographic map displaying the entire planet. The positions of every Egg Fleet cruiser were represented onscreen by little red dots. They were all moving towards Megaopolis, Eggman's capitol.

A big red X had been placed over the former location of Knothole City.

"Hmph..."

Shadow plopped down into the Doctor's vacant command chair and yawned. "Tough day..."

* * *

Eggman's eyes opened – sort of. He didn't really have any eyes to speak of. He seemed to be looking through a camera.

He tried to move his fingers, and felt nothing. He did the same with his feet: nothing. He looked down, but there was no body below his 'eye'.

"What the...?"

His voice sounded digital and hollow. It seemed to be coming from afar.

He moved his gaze around and realized he was looking through one of his many security cameras. His master control room was before him; his computer system was droning on. The words "CODE 86 IN PROGRESS..." were written across the screen.

The Eggman tried to raise his right hand in front of his face, even though he knew what was going on.

"I'm in the computer mainframe..." he muttered, astonished. "But how? I was turned into flesh and blood all that time ago..."

An idea hit him. He thought about it for a moment, and...voila! His vision changed to a camera in his hangar. And then to one in a workshop. Then one to the grounds surrounding his complex.

"I haven't done this since I was Robo-Robotnik..."

He then remembered that he had no idea how he had wound up in this form.

"Wait a minute...oho! Yes. Sonic...he fired at me...he killed me! I think..." the Doctor bantered. It was all kind of hazy, but Eggman remembered seeing Sonic a second before it all went black.

"I'm sure he killed me. I mean...he had a rifle, I think..."

He returned back to his control room and looked once more at the monitor.

"Code Eighty-Six...? Oho!"

He reached out to his computer system, as was once common for him to do. He could feel every process, every memory address. He found a program that ran a map showing his fleet coordinates.

It popped up onscreen. Every little dot representing every ship was currently flying towards Megaopolis. A red X had been slapped down over Knothole City.

"Eighty-Six... Hmm... They followed the code... So my machines clearly don't know I'm in the system," Eggman realized. Then another blast of realization crashed into him like a careering school bus. "The last part of Eighty-Six is...oh damn."

The Eggman cycled through cameras to a storage room somewhere in the bowels of his base. Hooked into a machine on the wall was a robotic copy of his now deceased body. "Oh thank the gods I saved this..."

He thought about it and the robotic copy's eyes began glowing bright red. A noise not far from the static agony of dial-up internet connecting kicked on, and Eggman felt his "programming" being drained down a pipe, for the most part.

He suddenly lost his camera-vision, but it was soon replaced by two, regular eyes. Another second later, wires retracted from his new arms. He lifted up his left hand and waved it in front of his face. He then stepped off of his machine in his robotic body.

"Yes...My genius is unmatched," Eggman declared, clenching his realistic fist.

He then remembered the urgency with which he must leave and ran to the elevator.

* * *

Shadow had wandered out to the deck of the ship when it had reached Megaopolis. The abandoned city looked even more desolate in the dying light of evening. The only structure that seemed to have any life was a massive steel building rising above the skyscrapers.

The entire Egg Fleet had stopped on the outskirts of the city, and Shadow had a feeling in his gut that something bad was about to occur.

And, of course, it did. A series of explosions started popping up in rows spiraling inward towards the center of the city.

"So... Eggman's Code Eighty-Six is a dead-man's-switch... Wait a second..." As the explosions sped up and spiraled in, Shadow came to realize that if Eggman's empire was going to go up in flames, his fleet was too.

He watched as Eggman's base exploded, and then saw, out of the corner of his eyes, the last ship on either side of him explode. The pieces rained down into the ocean.

Then the next two ships burst. And the next.

"Oh shit..." Shadow cursed, and started skating towards the edge of the deck.

The explosions had sped up now. They were getting closer.

Shadow leapt over the edge of the ship just as the two ships next to his exploded. Then, after a few seconds, the flagship exploded. The black hedgehog could feel the heat of flames licking at his back. A hunk of steel flew down in front of him and crashed into the blue sea with a titanic splash.

Just as he hit the ocean, he blacked out.

* * *

**So what do you guys think so far? Please review and tell me what you think! I'm finally starting to figure out where this is going. P**


	5. Treacherous Alliance

Chapter 5

"Treacherous Alliance"

Shadow's eyes slowly opened to a scene of bland sand. He felt wet, and he could feel water flowing up beneath him.

He staggered up to his knees and looked forward. The ruins of Megaopolis were before him, still smoking.

The sun was rising, and it felt very warm, compared to yesterday's cold drizzle. An oceanic breeze teased his back.

"Thank the gods the code didn't end with nuking this city, too..." muttered Shadow. "I would've died of radiation exposure."

The black hedgehog climbed to his feet and surveyed the scene before him. No movement, no life. Not even a robot. Eggman's Code Eighty-Six did exactly what its name implied.

Shadow walked slowly up the beach to a street littered with bits of building. A crater in front of him marked where one of the bombs had gone off.

"Maybe the Doctor really is dead," Shadow stated. He turned to look out at the sea and found hunks of metal sticking up.

When he turned back to face the ruined city, he was surprised to see a black shape flying over it near the center. It then lowered down and vanished behind the (ruined) skyline.

Naturally, Shadow was curious. He skated into the street where the crater was located.

He jumped over it effortlessly and kept on skating. There were plenty of obstacles to jump over on the way.

More craters impeded his progress, because they became progressively larger the further into the ruins he went.

When he finally reached the former location of Eggman's base, he could clearly see what he had come to investigate. A very advanced helicopter with jets on the tail was sitting in a little clearing amongst the rubble. Its rotors suggested they could transform into wings, which explained the jets. It also had a very sleek, jet aircraft fuselage.

A chain gun stuck off of the front of the cockpit, and rockets were mounted on the sides.

Standing in front of the base were five figures, two of which were carrying rifles. One had a bizarre flaming apparatus attached to its back. The other two were apparently unarmed.

The three with weapons were cloaked in black. Big armored boots encased their feet. They were standing in a loose defensive formation, guarding the other two.

The other two were clearly echidna, and both were clearly female. One had sleek hair running off the sides of her head, framing a set of dreadlocks, some with mechanical bits and pieces. A dreadlock was tied up and hung from the back of her head, like a pony-tail. She was wearing a blue leather suit with tall boots, gloves, and a hanging fringe coming off of her stomach.

The other female had hair that was both straight and curly, with curls that pointed up, almost like devil horns. Her dreadlocks were banded with black strips of cloth. She was wrapped in a cloak, so Shadow couldn't tell what she was wearing, but it was obvious that she didn't have gloves on.

While Shadow had never seen these people before, he knew enough about them to realize immediately that they were from the Dark Legion. More so, the Flame Legion, given the one's flaming pack.

The female in the cloak was talking to the other female with her hands on her hips. Shadow couldn't make out exact words, but she sounded pretty pissed off. Or maybe she was just a bitch. Shadow wasn't sure, but given that fact, he guessed it was the Flame Legion's Grand Master, Lien-Da or Rien-Da or something.

Shadow considered approaching them but thought better of it. Nevertheless, he didn't attempt to hide.

After a minute or so, the five turned to come back to their chopper. They started walking but all stopped when they saw Shadow. The Grand Master and her friend spoke for a moment.

"Hey!!! You! Come here, you!!!" Lien-Da or whatever shouted.

"Damnit..." Shadow groaned. He walked towards the group.

As he approached the group, he could make out more features. The straight-haired female had a mechanical left eye. Her normal eye was green.

The bitch had a mechanical dreadlock that hung over her left arm. Her eyes were bright blue. She had a look on her face that Shadow associated with egotistical people.

"What are you doing here, you?" she asked, pointing one finger at Shadow.

"Nothing," Shadow replied.

"Nothing?!? You just happened to wander onto the ruins of Megaopolis? You've got some nerve, you hedge- HEY. Wait a minute. I've heard about you. You're Shadow, aren't you?" Lien-Da quizzed.

Shadow nodded. "And you're...Lien-Da?"

Lien-Da scowled. "That's Kommissar to you, hedgehog."

Shadow scoffed. "Get off your pillar, echidna."

Lien-Da was about to do something, but her associate grabbed her. "Kommissar, be nice."

Shadow found himself grinning.

Lien-Da growled. "This is my second-in-command, Gae-Na, by the way. So...why are you here?"

"The Doctor's fleet carried me here after it bombed Knothole."

The Kommissar lit up. "So they did bomb that backwater town, eh? Heh, those uppity "Freedom Fighters" had it coming. Still, what's up with Eggman?"

Shadow shrugged. "I don't know...I think he's dead. Why am I telling you anything, anyway?"

Lien-Da grinned. "Because I'm me."

Shadow wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that, or what he thought she meant. He just crossed his arm and gave off a "Hmph."

Lien-Da started walking towards her chopper. Her comrades followed her.

"Well?" she asked, impudently. "Are you coming?"

"Huh?" Shadow asked, eyeing the echidna.

"Come with us. You want to know if Eggman's dead too, right?" Lien-Da explained.

Shadow turned over the choices for a moment. If he didn't go with her, he wouldn't have a ride off of this ruin, that was a given. If he did go with her, he'd probably regret it in other ways. Still, he decided, he'd rather be annoyed than deserted.

He sighed and walked to the chopper.

The three armed troops got in the cockpit of the craft, and Lien-Da and Gae-Na sat down in the cabin. Shadow sat opposite them.

Lien-Da pulled off her cloak, revealing a skin-tight leather suit that definitely didn't leave much to the imagination. Shadow tried not to look; not because he was guilty of the male urge, but because he didn't really like being around women.

"So you're one of that blue hedgehog's friends, right?" Lien-Da asked.

Shadow laughed sarcastically. "I would say 'acquaintance', but yeah."

The rotors kicked on and the chopper lifted off the ground.

Shadow settled back into his seat and tried to be as boring as possible. Still, Lien-Da was grinning at him in an unsettling way, and he couldn't help but looking at her every once in a while.

"Where are we going, anyway?" he finally asked.

"Back to base. We'll talk more there," the Kommissar stated curtly.

Shadow sighed and settled back again. He felt uncomfortable the whole way to Angel Island.


	6. Upgraded

Chapter 6

"Upgraded... Sort of."

Having to explain the events of the previous day to Sonic when he finally came to had been very difficult for Tails, and he couldn't have done it alone. The uncertainty of the answers Tails gave to Sonic's questions was the hardest thing for the fox to deal with.

"Are my parents okay?" had been one of the hardest questions to attempt to answer. Tails gulped and gave as honest an answer as he could: "Probably not."

"Uncle Chuck?" "I just don't know, Sonic."

Sonic had gulped. His eyes had gone wide. He looked close to feinting.

"My family is dead?!?" he asked.

Tails had shook his head. "I just don't know."

The orange fox didn't really remember his parents, and they were billions of miles away at this point, so he couldn't imagine Sonic's devastation – only his loneliness. The blue hedgehog had marched out onto the deck of the apartment the government had given them and had been there ever since.

Sapphiria, the human nation with Station Square as its capitol, had agreed to house the royal refugees because, with no Eggman Empire, they weren't at risk. There wasn't anything left to want these destitute Knothole citizens dead.

Of course, the Sapphirian government could have probably defeated Eggman – their Global United Navy, or 'G.U.N.' was the most powerful military force on Mobius. They had most likely stayed out of the now-ended war for political reasons.

Tails had assumed Eggman had remained in control of his armada until the president of Sapphiria had told the group that Megaopolis and the Egg Fleet had self-destructed, and it instantly became clear to the fox. That final assault had been a dead man's switch, a failsafe to ensure no one could take the doctor's technology or empire, and he could wipe out Knothole along the way.

What surprised Tails, however, was that Eggman had never nuked Knothole before, as he had clearly been capable.

The fox was now sitting atop their building, enjoying the warm tropical breeze blowing in off of the Emerald Sea. He had cried a little here and there all day, but he was the luckiest refugee – all of his good friends, barring Sonic's uncle Chuck, made it out with him. The things he really missed were simply his home and his planes.

The stars were out and glowed surprisingly well through the lights of Station Square. Tails had even spied a few shooting stars, and he could see, in its dazzling beauty, the blown-apart chunks of the second moon orbiting their greater body like bees around a hive.

On the street below, dating couples and tourists were browsing the shops, eating ice cream, going out to dinner, and living their lives like a nuke hadn't just decimated one of the beacons of animal society. It made Tails a little sick and hurt, but he couldn't really blame them. It must seem so far away for these people.

He spied Sonic, who was curled up with his knees to his chest, sitting in a plastic chair on the deck. He needed space.

Tails looked out to the ocean and watched the shimmering reflection of Mobius's intact moon ripple and transform in the waves.

* * *

Shadow had been instructed to go to a room in the bowels of the Hidden Palace that the Flame Legion had commandeered and wait for the Kommissar to retrieve him. He sat down on the couch in the room and yawned.

He was starting to question his judgment in coming with the Dark Legionnaires to this place, because he was essentially their prisoner now. He knew that Lien-Da wanted him for his prior relationship with the late doctor, but he wasn't sure exactly what she wanted.

He considered the kill-code Eighty-Six silently, and wondered if it was all over. Eggman's empire's fingers extended to every corner of the world, and it was likely that it had taken time for every base and installation to explode, but he guessed it was done by now.

He was just about to lie down and try to sleep when the mechanical door slid open and the Kommissar entered.

She had changed her outfit, but it wasn't much better in the 'revealing' department. She was now wearing a small black shirt with a ridiculously big lapel and long, baggy sleeves. It was, to Shadow's chagrin, low-cut, as well as high on her waste, meaning there was a lot of stomach to see.

Her pants were large, baggy shorts with a gray belt. The buckle of the belt had a pink heart on it. Her shoes, black, white and red boots, also had the heart.

A bullwhip was wrapped around her right arm, and she was wearing a sadistic smile on her face.

"Okay, Shadow. Let's talk," she said, with a very insisting tone.

The black hedgehog chuckled. "Talk about what?"

"Do you honestly believe that Eggman is dead? Do you?" Lien-Da asked arrogantly.

Shadow eyed her cautiously. "Well...yes I do. I mean, if he wasn't, why would he have self-destructed his empire?"

The Kommissar laughed. "Ha! You're a fool, then. I was told that you were the practical, insightful type, but I guess your friends were wrong."

Shadow growled. "Then where is he?"

The female grinned. "That's what we're gonna find out, 'kay?" She turned to a holographic monitor and whipped out what appeared to be a wireless stylus. He clicked a button on it and Eggman's sneering portrait popped up.

"I know for a fact that Eggman's hard to kill," she said. "During his occupation of this island, we tried to assassinate him numerous times. It never worked. Ever. My best sniper, Syntar, couldn't even get it done."

She pulled up the world map which was displaying red X's over every city or base or installation that had been 'Eighty-Sixed.' Shadow easily spied Knothole and Megaopolis, but he was unsure about the others.

"I think Eggman's system thinks he's dead. Why else would it have self-destructed? I don't believe he's actually dead, though."

Shadow crossed his arms and stood up. "What proof do you have that the Doctor's alive, anyway?"

"None. I just know."

"So why do you want to find him?" Shadow asked. The Kommissar grinned.

"Because I want to hunt him down and kill him myself, now that his protection is gone," Lien-Da replied.

She killed the screen and walked to the door. "C'mon, Shadow. We're going out."

The black hedgehog followed her out wordlessly.

* * *

Rouge the Bat was hanging upside down from the overhang of a tall building, spying a little scene playing out below her. She had been following a car along the highway for a few hours, and it had finally pulled off in the middle of Ogacic City, a metropolis north of the now-destroyed Megaopolis.

It was a nice black luxury car; probably a Porsche, or maybe a Maserati even. The windows were tinted black, and since it was night, it was even hard for Rouge to see inside.

She had started trailing the car on her motorcycle after it had pulled out from a blocked-off on-ramp to the deserted highway leading to Megaopolis. Oddly enough, the concrete blocks that had barred entrance had lowered into the ground for it, and it pulled out.

Anyone coming from a city that had just been blown apart must have something to hide, Rouge thought.

A short figure in a black business suit and a large, face-obscuring hat had walked out to greet the car after a few minutes. Rouge couldn't tell much about this person, but he appeared human.

The door of the Porsche or Maserati or whatever it was opened up and a fat figure emerged. The figure in question was wearing a big black overcoat and a similar hat, but Rouge knew who it was, both from the egg-shaped body and the shock of orange hair sprouting out from either side of the hat – Eggman.

The two conversed for a few minutes. The short human freaked out once and jumped into the air, for whatever reason. Eggman laughed and smacked the short one to get him to stop.

Finally, Eggman returned to his car and the short human entered the building. The engine fired up and it began pulling forward. Rouge swooped down and pinned a tracking device to the rear spoiler.

She then flew off into the night.

Shadow was standing in a room surrounded by Flame Legion techies, who were all pulling various items off of shelfs, soldering things together, welding, screwing, connecting wires – it was all quite frenzied.

Lien-Da had told him that if he was going to help her, he'd need to look like a Dark Legionnaire. So, much to Shadow's dismay, he had agreed to put on some clothes. He was now wearing a black cape which was clasped around his neck by a silver chain.

The Kommissar had said that she knew about Shadow's Chaos abilities, and that she just happened to have a couple of Chaos Emeralds. This naturally intrigued Shadow, who asked her what she was telling him that for.

Finally, the Legionnaires finished their work and beckoned Shadow to move closer. He spied the creations laying on the metal table.

Two big, brown gloves were laying on the table. They were actually gloves and gauntlets; the gloves themselves were dark brown leather strips sewn together, and the gauntlet part was a big, round brown thing probably from cleaned-out arm-cannons. On each one, a tall, crystalline Chaos Emerald jutted out of a fitted hole. Wires were connected to the tip of the emerald (on the inside), which ran out the top of the gloves.

A set of leather 'sleeves' had also been made, and it seemed like the wires carrying the Chaos energy ran up the sleeves to the wearer's shoulders. Shadow had to admit, it would probably boost his abilities.

Before he could say anything, the Legionnaires had grabbed the gauntlets and shoved them onto his arms. They ran the wires up the length of his arms and pressed the ends down into his shoulder fur. They then pulled the sleeves onto him and clipped them on.

Shadow instantly felt the pulse of the two emeralds run up his arms and into his core. He did indeed feel empowered. The weight of the gauntlets didn't even bug him.

"You like 'em?" Lien-Da asked.

Shadow nodded. "Smart design, I must admit."

The Kommissar grinned and waved the Legionnaires away. "So, Shadow...you're officially fit to be my honorary advisor."

The black hedgehog gave off a "Hmpf."

"You're welcome," Lien-Da replied. She turned and started moving towards the lift.

Shadow followed her, inspecting the gloves from every angle. They were certainly solid.

As he stepped onto the lift, his female associate punched in commands, and it began flying up to the main level of the Hidden Palace. Lien-Da was grinning at him again, and it unnerved him, again.

She hopped off of the lift just as it reached the top level. "Go test out those gloves at the shooting range. You'll be pleased, I trust."

Shadow followed her extended finger to a door to his left.

* * *

Lien-Da watched Shadow pass through the door with a grin on her face. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but secretly, she thought he was cute.

The whole blunt and quiet thing put her off a bit, though, but she found herself thinking about him more and more.

"I can't get involved with a hedgehog..." she muttered, smiling a little wider. "Even if he is cute."


	7. END 86

Chapter 7  
"END-86"

In an underground facility in an undisclosed location somewhere in the middle of the vast Ankharin Desert, a computer mainframe was kicking on. The several monitors connected to it began to scroll through lines of raw C++ code.

Fans kicked on to run initial tests, followed by the clicks and moans of the many hard drives spinning to life.

The screens finally displayed an image of a hard drive with a large question mark over it. "File not found..." it scrolled out below the image. Then, more whirring and clicking, and the image vanished.

As if by an invisible hand, the words "Special Access Code #80211-86" appeared on screen, letter by letter. A status bar popped up and slowly filled up with bright red color as various disks were checked and files were searched through.

The search ran through hard disks one through one thousand, and finally, on the final disk, after twenty minutes of searching, the file "END-86.exe" was found.

The file, a program, opened up, displaying a stylized image of Dr. Eggman's head. Another status bar popped up.

"Installing..." the screen said silently.

The installation process took hours due to the massive size of the files located at the end of the hard disk, but when it was finally finished, the image on screen changed.

"CODE 86 INITIATING..."

More files were named off as another status bar filled, followed by another new screen, this one of raw code. Then, it changed again to a list of the heroes of Knothole.

Each person had a picture and a paragraph of code next to them. The code was because only the computer itself would use this program - no human needed to.

A video of the helicopter the royalty of Knothole had fleed in was displayed. The original Code 86, the intelligent program which had initiated this computer bank's END-86 program, understood what was happening in the video. END-86 would help it figure out what to do next.

The video finished and Code 86, which had downloaded itself to a remote server just before the explosion at Megaopolis, considered its options by thinking in, naturally, code. The remote server had kicked on this databank and allowed Code 86 to download to it, and initiate END-86.

Finally, Code 86 put END-86 on standby and called up a program Eggman had developed to work in unison with his dead man's switch.

"bddownload.exe initiating..." appeared on screen. A new window popped up, displaying a list of bodies.

Each body had a three-dimensional, rotating image which displayed schematics, as well as more code for Code 86 to read. It scrolled down the list, passing Shadow the Hedgehog androids, including a special-purpose orange-striped one Eggman had developed.

It passed the long line of special-purpose Metal Sonics, including, but not limited to: Metal Sonic MK1, MK2, Mecha Sonic, Silver Sonic, Silver Sonic 2, Metal Sonic MK3, and several new ones.

Code 86 continued to run down the list until it got to the last body, a custom-built robot designed expressly for Code 86.

Code 86 memorized the seventy-some lines of raw code in an instant. It then changed the page to the download control point and input the raw code into the download box. It then initiated.

Code 86 felt a copy of itself being sent through a cable to an external source somewhere deeper in the facility. When it finally finished, it closed all programs, sans END-86, and terminated itself.

* * *

Doctor Ivo Robotnik's black Maserati pulled out of the alley behind his nephew's 'gentleman's club' with a powerful roar of the engine. The Eggman sped up as he pulled off of the dark, deserted street and on to the highway.

His robotic body communicated wirelessly with the car's computer, allowing him to work and drive at the same time. Regardless, he still felt like a human being, because, after being one for so long, he thought like one, even when he was a program in a mechanical shell.

True, he could read code in his 'brain' now, but he found that when he thought, it was all in plain English and was often in the glamorous way one thinks.

In fact, he decided, he would change back into a human the first chance he got. He had developed a machine based on his observations of the Bem's deroboticizer machine, and, although it was now rubble, he could build another from memory.

He was working on his computer system as he drove, still. He was currently scanning his global network for any instance of the number '86'. He had taken special care when developing Code 86 to make sure it was his only program with the number 86 in it.

He finally found it and laughed triumphantly. His network said it was currently located at his Remote Desert Server, or RDS. It also said that Code 86 had downloaded itself to the Robotic Special Unit CODE-86, which was, obviously, designed to function in just the way it was.

"I need to stop Code 86 before it destroys the few things I have left..." Eggman said, running code through his head whilst thinking, as said, in English.

He found the video of the Acorn helicopter flying away from Knothole and stopped running code.

"Ohohoho..." he chuckled, "Code 86 is after the 'Freedom Fighters'... Maybe I'm going a bit fast here..."

He sensed Unit 86 disconnect from its connectivity port. The network was completely cleared of Code 86 for a moment, until Unit's wireless communications kicked on. Now it had access to everything...possibly even Eggman's Maserati.

"Hmm, if it sees me on the network, it may try to shut it down...it'll be assuming someone else is on it..." the Doctor thought out loud. He ran a few million lines of code through his brain and a powerful firewall instantly protected his privacy.

Unit 86 began communicating with the RDS, and Eggman's personal favorite part of the 86 monstrosity, END-86, started up.

"It's found the location of the refugees..."

Eggman grinned wide, his fake skin stretching out as his real skin used to. "This could get...interesting."

With that, he powered down and focused solely on driving and pondering, all in English.

* * *

Shadow stared out the window of the chopper/jet combo Lien-Da seemed to favor as it flew over the rain-swepped, dark fields in the shadow of Mount Aurora, a central peak on Angel Island. The rain was falling in sheets and it was spattered on the cockpit windshield.

The black hedgehog had wrapped his newly-acquired cape around him, trying to stay dry. In the helicopter, he let it fan out and sat back, inspecting his gloves yet again.

Lien-Da had pulled a thick black cloak on over her rather skimpy outfit. Her arms were crossed over her chest.

A third person had joined the two new allies. He was a dark red echidna with black dreadlocks, which were most likely died that color. They were parted in the middle like a hair cut. The last two in the back were mechanical.

His eyes were fierce and purple. A jagged scar ran from his muzzle, over his left eyelid, and up onto his forehead. His muzzle was a little bit rugged and furry, like he didn't shave much.

Regardless, he was wearing a crisp, commanding uniform, shoulder pads and medals of honor included. It was dark gray and black, and certainly succeeded in making him look official.

A laser revolver was holstered at his side. His right arm, which was mechanical, was never far from it.

He wore a nasty scowl on his face, but not at anyone in particular. Most likely he was just trying to intimidate and impress Shadow.

Lien-Da had told Shadow that his name was Obsidian, and he was the third-in-command, after Gae-Na.

"You never told me where we are going," Shadow stated. Lien-Da grinned.

"Didn't I? Oh well. We're going to see my old friend."

With that, she settled back into her seat and closer her eyes.

Shadow sighed and did the same.

The jet finally made its transformation to helicopter form somewhere over the plains. Shadow couldn't see what was below them, though.

The chopper made its descent slowly, and when it touched down, Shadow wasn't sure it had. But then, the door slid open, and Obsidian hopped out.

Lien-Da and Shadow got up and followed after exchanging a glance.

They had landed in the center of a circle of ancient stone pillars. Several of the pillars had collapsed, and a few were just plain gone. The ones that were left were eroded, but had enough to them to clearly display echidna images and mythology.

Above the circle, on a hill, was a temple, which was in significantly better shape than the pillars, and even had two gorgeous statues standing, like sentinals, side by side framing the entrance with massive lances brandished.

The Kommissar started walking to the temple and her comrades followed. As they approached, a figure emerged from the shadows in the entrance.

The figure in question was a rather large, white echidna, with a black loop around his neck, below a golden necklace. Massive gauntlets made of power rings covered his arms and legs. His boots were black and gold.

A black and yellow cloak was wrapped around him, and each side displayed half of a skull, which lined up perfectly with one another.

His eyes were his most striking feature, however. They were black, rather than white, with yellow spiraling irises. Shadow couldn't tell if they were mechanical or not.

Lien-Da approached him and spoke a few words. They then started walking into the temple, and the Kommissar threw up a hand and gestured for her comrades to follow.

Shadow grinned. "She knows some interesting people..."


End file.
